20/05/05
This year's Western Australian Premier's Book Awards had an air of deja vu for author Gail Jones, who scooped the top prize for the second time with her novel 'Sixty Lights'.
Culture and Arts Minister Sheila McHale awarded Ms Jones the prestigious honour and $20,000 prize at a special presentation at the Alexander Library last night.
Ms Jones shared first place in the awards in 1997 with her work of short stories 'Fetish Lives'.
"The judges described 'Sixty Lights' as a meticulous, elegant, and engrossing book," Ms McHale said.
Set in the mid-19th century, the novel explores the short life of the aptly named Lucy Strange - a woman preoccupied with the emerging technology of photography.
Ms Jones' novel also took out the Fiction Category award.
Anthony Barker's book 'Behind the Play', which tells the history of football in WA from 1868, won the inaugural West Australian History Award.
Ms McHale said the award was introduced to recognise significant historical works that made a major contribution to the understanding of WA's past.
"Historical scholarship is vitally important to the understanding of our cultural identity and the short listed books record the history of some of the State's icons," she said.
The winners in other categories of the 23rd annual Premier's Book Awards each won $7,500:
Fiction
Gail Jones for 'Sixty Lights'.
Poetry
Miriam Wei Wei Lo for 'Against Certain Capture'.
Non-fiction
'Conversations with the Constitution' by Greg Craven; and
Kate Lance for 'Redbill'.
West Australian History
Anthony Barker for 'Behind the Play'.
Children's Books
Joanne Crawford and Grace Fielding for 'A Home For Bilby'.
Writing for Young Adults
Anthony Eaton for 'Fireshadow'.
Script
Jolly Read for 'Yandy'.
This year's awards attracted a record 134 entries, with 26 works short-listed.
The Premier's Book Awards were inaugurated in 1982 to honour and celebrate the literary achievements of the State's writers.
More information about the awards, including past winners and the judges report, can be found on the State Library's website at
Minister's office: 9213 6900
